We have to remember the past to understand the present

These are days of remembrance. Over the last week, the Jewish people have remembered those who have fallen in the many wars Israel has faced; the tragedy of the Shoah; and the miracle of Israeli independence. This week, in Europe, we remember those who lost their lives in the Second World War, as well as the freedom that finally came in 1945.

Remembering the past is absolutely necessary if we are to understand the present and prepare for the future.

One of the most important lessons we should learn when we look at the history of the 21st century is that we all have a responsibility to stand up quickly and speak out against the demonization and hatred of Jews. History teaches us that the Jewish people are the proverbial ‘canary in the coalmine’: when the Jewish people are threatened, we should know that freedom for all is being threatened..

This means we must be alert to, and have the courage to stand up against, every form of hatred and oppression of Jews, as soon as it is manifested.

Looking back on the events in the 1930’s, one thing is clear: too few people stood up too late against the growing antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish people in Europe (and also the Middle East). By the time the Nazis were transporting Jews on a massive scale to Auschwitz and Sobibor in 1942, it was too late.

Of course, there were important exceptions, but by and large during the 1930s and early 1940s Christians in Europe were silent when they should have been alert to what was happening.

In an article published this week, Canadian legal scholar Irwin Cotler reminds us, we always face the danger of complicity with evil by way of silence or inaction. As Wiesel put it in his famed 1986 Nobel Prize address: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim; silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented… wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.” He added: “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time where we fail to protest against injustice.”

Today, there is growing antisemitism. We are witnessing a renewed hatred of the Jewish people, often manifesting as ‘anti-Zionism’ and hatred of the Jewish State of Israel. But as Natan Sharansky and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks have explained, hatred of the State of Israel is just a new manifestation of the age-old hatred of Jews.

Let us learn from the past, and have the courage to speak out against this new antisemitism.

The Editorial Team Israel & Christians Today

Yom HaShoah: The imperative to remember, the call to act
Writing in Times of Israel, Prof. Irwin Cotler gives 12 Holocaust lessons that are searingly relevant in today’s era of surging antisemitism, denial, and, yes, genocide.
Read more..